Alrighty, time for one of these! A list of completely random questions some people have asked me. Just for fun 😋

Here we go!

QUESTION 1: Are you a cat or a dog person?

Answer: A cat person. Without a doubt. That does not mean I dislike dogs, not at all! I do like dogs, especially pugs, they’re adorable creatures. But cats are a bit closer to my heart. I think this is because I’ve heard and witnessed so much abuse against cats (people treating them poorly, dumping them, etc.) Some people say cats are “arrogant”. Yes, they are independent and not easily manipulated, but if someone think badly of an animal because they cannot control them, that probably tells more about this person than the animal…and cats do show affection, and a lot of it too, it’s just more subtle.

QUESTION 2: Have you ever been tricked by someone?

Answer: Who haven’t been? But the most elaborate “trick” someone pulled on me, dates back to around 2001-2002. It was back in my high school days, where I got an e-mail from a funny hillbilly-boy from a place called “Skatval” here in Norway, and he called himself “Mons-Ivar”. He had a sister, her name was “Lise”. They had their own websites, with photos and info about them (the website for “Mons-Ivar” is still up, actually). I started chatting with “Lise” as well, where she often hinted a certain interest for me. At this time, I was that kind of guy that had never been with a girl and was over the moon that a girl actually showed interest. This went on for weeks. However, things came to a halt when I and an ex-friend of mine (who was then one of my best friends) searched for these people on the public tax records (called “Skattelistene”), where I found out that these people didn’t exist. After this, I never heard anything back from “Mons-Ivar” and “Lise”, and I suspected my ex-friend to be behind it all. I tried to confront him, and even told him I wouldn’t be mad if he just admitted it. He didn’t, however, he just got angry that I accused him for it. Many years later, however, I saw that his name was written on the “Mons-Ivar” website, listed as the “web designer” for the site (and his name is still there to this day, hidden in text that’s the same color as the background). So, yeah, you could say that this was one of the more elaborate tricks/pranks someone have pulled on me. And to be honest, it would have been a pretty funny one too, which I could’ve laughed heartily at today, if it wasn’t for all the other things that followed which now just make me see this as more unsettling than funny.

QUESTION 3: Do you believe in ghosts?

Answer: This question is a little bit like the “Do you believe in UFO’s?” question. Yes, I believe in UFO’s. It means “Unidentified Flying Objects”. I believe people see unidentified flying objects which are caused by various things (like for example ball lightning). But I do not believe they are flying saucers with little green men in them. It’s the same for ghosts. Yes, I believe the phenomenon exists, and yes, I believe people see/experience “ghosts”. But I am not convinced they are the spirits of deceased people. As a horror movie fan, the concept of ghosts are often a theme, and while many films use the standard theory of them being spirits of the dead, some films in recent times (like the “Conjuring” movies and the “Annabelle” movies for example) portray them as demons that manipulates people into believing they are the ghost of an innocent little girl for example. In my comic series “Sally The Ghost Hunter“, I simply portray ghosts as the classic spirits of the dead. I think I may explore the theories/concepts around ghosts a bit more in upcoming “Bella Mortis Presents” stories, though. Even though I personally don’t know what to think of the phenomenon of ghosts, I still enjoy a ghost horror story.

QUESTION 4: Are you a satanist? You make all these drawings with blood and gore and use upside-down crosses and occult symbols in many of them, so you must be, right?

Answer: I specialize in the horror genre, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe in it or treat it like anything else than what it is: a fantasy. Jeez Louise, they’re just drawings! I often draw occult symbols because the devil/satan/beelzebub/gamle-erik or whathaveyou is often part of the horror genre, together with blood & gore, monsters, ghosts, demons, freaks and all those things I draw. This does not make me a devil worshipper or a satanist. Just someone who enjoys the horror genre.

QUESTION 5: Have you ever had a strange thing happen to you that scared you?

Answer: I have experienced a few things that scared me at first (although some of them could be explained later on), but there was this one thing that happened several years ago. I still lived with my parents at that time, and we were the only ones in the house. We were all sitting in the living room, watching a movie. Then the phone rang (the home phone). My mother went to pick it up, only to look strangely at me, because the number showing on the display was that of my cell phone. We just looked at it, and didn’t know wether to pick it up or not, but then it stopped ringing. I went into my room to check if my phone was there as usual (I suspected I might have lost it), but it was there and the call logs didn’t show that it had tried to call the home phone. It didn’t really scare me, but it was a bit creepy. It never happened again, though.